The Hepworth Wakefield and Art Fund announced that their public appeal to raise the £3.8m needed to save Barbara Hepworth’s Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red for the UK has successfully reached its target, a week ahead of the deadline.
An outpouring of support and over 2,800 donations from members of the public means The Hepworth Wakefield are now able to acquire this outstanding sculpture by a titan of modern British art. It can then be acquired as part of the UK’s national collection and go on permanent public display at the award-winning gallery, in Hepworth’s hometown of Wakefield, for everyone to enjoy.
Created under astonishing circumstances during the Second World War, Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red (1943) marks a breakthrough in Hepworth’s career; it is one of only a handful of wooden carvings made by Hepworth during the 1940s, and one of the first major wood carvings she made using strings.
In private ownership and rarely seen by the public, the sculpture was deemed a national treasure and too important to leave the UK. It was placed under a temporary export bar by the UK Government to prevent it from being lost overseas, and to give a UK museum the chance to acquire it for everyone to enjoy.
Now that the funds have been raised, the chance to acquire this sculpture will enhance The Hepworth Wakefield’s ability to tell the full story of Barbara Hepworth’s career and pioneering creativity in the city where she was born.
Main Image: Barbara Hepworth, Sculpture with Colour (Oval Form) Pale Blue and Red, 1943.